


call it forgiveness with teeth

by opheliahyde



Category: From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series
Genre: Film Noir, Guns, Multi, Sibling Incest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-21
Updated: 2014-07-21
Packaged: 2018-02-09 19:10:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1994517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/opheliahyde/pseuds/opheliahyde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt <i>film noir AU</i>. Detective Frederico Gonzalez has a handsome face and honest eyes, the kind that makes her want to trust he means well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	call it forgiveness with teeth

**Author's Note:**

  * For [margalo_streussal](https://archiveofourown.org/users/margalo_streussal/gifts).



Vanessa eyes the framed photograph behind the detective’s desk, a pretty wife with her hair curled and a broad smile, clutching a chubby-cheeked baby close. Detective Frederico Gonzalez has a handsome face and honest eyes, the kind that makes her want to trust he means well, that he’s one of the few decent cops, a good man—she’s never had much luck in encountering those, maybe things would have turned out different if she had.

It nearly makes her feel guilty lying to him with a straight face.

“Like I told the officer earlier, I haven’t seen hide nor hair of my no-good, rotten ex-husband in several months, but if I had, I would certainly tell you,” she tells him, feigning a gentle smile, relaxing her face.

Detective Gonzalez gives her a look like he’s trying to see past her painted face, under the lies that roll effortlessly off her tongue, dark eyes sharp like the edge of a blade—it’s not as if Vanessa forgot he was dangerous too, but for a moment she’d been lulled by his kind features, thought she might slip away easy.

“Are you absolutely sure, Mrs.—”

“It’s Ms. now,” Vanessa corrects him, mouth twisting. She hadn’t been Mrs. Seth Gecko for long. “Ms. Styles, if you please.”

“Well, Ms. Styles, are you sure you haven’t been in contact with your ex-husband and you have no information as to his whereabouts?”

“As I just told you, I haven’t had a single word from him since he left me flat and ran off with that brother of his.” She tries to keep her voice smooth and even, choke down her emotions--be the mask, become the lie, easy enough. “I wish I had more to tell you, but I don’t. May I go now?”

Detective Gonzalez sighs and runs a hand over his face, slumping in his chair. “We can’t hold you. Thank you for your time, Ms. Styles.”

Vanessa nods politely and smiles, getting to her feet as Detective Gonzalez rises with her. He doesn’t walk her to the door, but she feels his eyes on her back, burning through her dress.

“Oh, and Ms. Styles?” Vanessa stills, letting go of the doorknob. “I wouldn’t leave the city, in case we have more questions for you.”

Vanessa turns on her heel, pulling herself up to full height, straightening her spine and pulling her mouth into a smile, fake as the color on her lips. “Where would I go, detective?” He drops his gaze when she holds his too long, looking down at his desk, careful social nicety she had been counting on, shame him away from his accusation that she might run.

Vanessa turns back, twisting the door knob. “I was very sorry to hear about your partner,” she calls back over her shoulder, not unkindly, before shutting the door behind her.

 

—

 

One of the officers offer to call her a cab, but she waved him off. There was nothing to be afraid of in the night, not for her, not in this city—and besides, she was many things, but she wasn’t stupid. Vanessa walks down the sidewalk to the sound of her heels clacking on the pavement, listening to the steady in and out of her breath, timing her steps in between heartbeats, the sounds of the city a faded background, indistinguishable through her focus. She doesn’t hear him before the click of the gun, muzzle caressing her cheek.

“What did you tell them?” Richie asks her, half concealed in shadow from the alleyway, streetlight shining off his glasses, looking down at her in a way that always infuriated her. She’d always been taller than most men, wore heels to make her more imposing, but Richie Gecko wasn’t most men.

Vanessa slips her hand down her thigh, sliding the pistol from the holster under her skirt. She raises it and aims it at his head. “Take the gun off me and I might tell you.”

“ _Richard_ ,” Seth says, appearing from behind Richie, slapping his shoulder. “Listen to the lady.”

“I want to be sure she didn’t just rat us out, brother. That’s all.” Richie moves the gun from her cheek to rest it in the hollow of her temple. “Did you rat us out, Vanessa?”

Vanessa rolls her eyes, drawing her eyebrows up. “What do you think?”

Seth grabs his wrist, tugging his hand down. “Richie, stop. Drop the goddamn gun. What has gotten into you, of course Vanessa didn’t rat. It’s Vanessa, she isn’t a _snitch_.”

Richie lowers his hand, letting the gun hang at his side, but he eyes her like he’s always done--open mistrust lined with questioning, a heated interest underneath, held with a fixed intensity that never stopped making her skin crawl, like he could see her naked, the sensation still there even after she had already let him.

Vanessa doesn’t lower her gun.

“Baby,” Seth says, turning to her with his hands open, slipping behind her and laying them on her shoulders, pushing his fingers into her muscles like he can knead her into relaxation, voice sweet in her ear. “Richie didn’t mean it. We’re all a little spooked, okay? Now why don’t you put the gun away.”

“Maybe he shouldn’t have killed that detective,” she sneers, grimacing when Richie doesn’t have the decency to look ashamed, though it’s his fault they’ve got the police on their tail, too goddamn loose with his bullets. “I’m not letting him off until he apologizes to me.”

“Vanessa,” Seth says, mouth against her ear. “Let it go.”

“No.”

She watches Richie’s jaw tighten, his eyes flashing behind the thick lenses of his glasses, but he doesn’t say anything, mouth sewn closed.

When he moves, it’s quick; Vanessa missing it in a blink.

Richie grabs her wrist and folds his hand around it, tight like a cuff as he brings her hand down, shoving her back—it could have been a wall at her back, bricks digging in if it hadn’t been for Seth behind her, lips light as a flutter against her neck. Richie presses her against him, his free fingers curling under her jaw, jerking her chin up to meet his mouth with hers. Richie always kissed hard, never careful with her like he was with Seth sometimes, never soft, but this kiss was almost chaste, lips closed, just his mouth on hers, heavy as he grips her jaw.

“You’d have done the same if it were me,” he says, breaking away; he drops her wrist, but cups her cheek, thumb stroking down the edge of her cheekbone. “Admit it.”

Vanessa shoves him back and it makes him smile, mouth curling at the corners and a jump in his cheek. “Maybe.”

Seth laughs, stepping out from behind her and offering out his arm. “Shall we?”

Vanessa grips his elbow, letting him turn her towards the street. Richie doesn’t offer his arm, moves instead to match Seth’s steps, bumping shoulders with him at his other side. Seth helps her into the backseat of the car around the corner, bag of money on the seat beside her. Richie gets into the passenger’s seat as Seth rounds the car to get behind the wheel.

“Where are we going?” Vanessa asks as the engine turns over.

Richie turns to her. “South, then we keep going.”

She never did promise Detective Gonzalez that she wouldn’t run.

**Author's Note:**

> come say hi to me on [tumblr](http://richiesseth.tumblr.com)!


End file.
